iReview :: JUSTICE LEAGUE #14

It’s a new day for the Justice League and just as quickly as it begins a new threat hangs in the planet’s orbit and renders the team inert! The league find themselves at a crossroads asking whether or not their days as Earth’s greatest heroes are over!

It’s been a bit of a challenge for the Earth’s Most Powerful Heroes of late. The Justice League has entered into some of their most tenuous exploits of late and although time-tested, this latest incarnation of the group still has a lot left to prove — especially to one another. The metal has hardly cooled on the team that was forged at the onset of the latest multiverse reboot when Darkseid and his armies invaded! The original seven realizing their extreme potential for greatness, pooled their resources and accepted the responsibility of becoming the planet’s ultimate defenders, but hardly coalesced immediately as a single force.

In fact, several factions in the group proved detrimental to their early exploits, forcing Batman to work diligently behind the scenes to keep tabs on his teammates. This was of great import when Aquaman ultimately lost footing as the monarch of his realm and Atlantis attacked, a war of great consequence eventually brought together the three factions of the Justice League which lead to their imprisonment when the league’s evil doppelgängers the Crime Syndicate took over the world. Eventually our heroes prevailed, but at great consequences and nearly lost it all again when they found themselves at the center of a conflict between Darkseid and the Anti-Monitor!

As the dust settled on the team, Batman ever the most cautious one among them, cited the potential danger in their ranks when their own Man of Steel met his fate and had been replaced by a Superman from an alternate earth/alternate existence who’s agenda wasn’t entirely on the up and up. Before the league could figure out the mystery surrounding their new ally, they found themselves in an unlikely alliance with perhaps the most dangerous individuals on the planet Amanda Waller and her Suicide Squad. The two formidable forces united in an effort to bring down an even bigger threat to the multiverse Maxwell Lord.

Now licking their wounds and pulling themselves together, the league find themselves once again mobilizing against a new menace that has entered into Earth’s atmosphere, a planet-sized weapon of mass destruction that has taken them out and buried them — with one shot! Justice League #14 written by Bryan Hitch who assumed the mantle of the title after Geoff Johns concluded his historic run, is a welcome pause from the chaos the team had been recently facing. In light of the latest publishing rebrand “Rebirth” continues to examine the legacy of our favorite DC Comics characters, the Justice League not being exception.

Trapped miles underground and confined to a space with limited air, the members of the Justice League are in fight for their lives and suddenly are succumbed by self-doubt. Considering everything they’ve recently faced together they realize how little trust exists between them. Superman confronts Batman as questions about each other’s loyalty is raised, the rookie Green Lanterns — Simon and Jessica — feel they are simply out of their league, even though both have proven themselves time and again. It’s an interesting and very humanize look at a group that hasn’t really gelled, but in this moment, trapped together must find confidence within themselves and each other.

● Justice League #14 – “Regroup” written by Bryan Hitch with additional inks by Daniel Henriques is a refreshingly paced narrative that takes a look at the league from a very different perspective. The dangers they’ve faced have lead them to this moment and will define them as the “Rebirth” storyline continues to unfold.